apophasis

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English

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Etymology

Via Late Latin apophasis from Ancient Greek ἀπόφασις (apóphasis, denial, negation) from ἀπο- (apo-, away, from, off) +‎ φάσις (phásis, statement, proposition) from φημί (phēmí, to speak) from Proto-Hellenic *pʰā́mā from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂; whence Latin fārī, cognate to fame, fable.

Pronunciation

Noun

Examples

"I won't mention your bad grammar"
Paul Anka, "My Way" (1969): Regrets, I've had a few / But then again, too few to mention

apophasis (countable and uncountable, plural apophases)

  1. (rhetoric) An allusion to something by denying that it will be mentioned.
    Synonyms: paralipsis, parasiopesis, praeteritio, preterition
    Hypernym: irony
    Hyponyms: proslepsis, assumptio
    Coordinate terms: antiphrasis, concessio, epitrope, mycterism, sarcasm
    • 1835, L Langley, A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, , Doncaster: Printed by C. White, Baxter-Gate, →OCLC, page 63:
      Apophasis, affecting to conceal;
      What it would seem to hide, will yet reveal.
  2. (Christianity, philosophy, theology) A process of arriving at knowledge by statements of denial; particularly, developing a concept of God through negative assertions about his nature.
    Synonyms: apophatic theology, via negativa
    Antonyms: cataphasis, via affirmativa

Translations

See also

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀπόφασις (apóphasis, denial, negation), ἀπο- (apo-, away, from, off) +‎ φάσις (phásis, statement, proposition) from ἀπόφημι (apóphēmi, speak out; say no, refuse, deny) from Attic Greek φημί (phēmí), Doric Greek φᾱμί (phāmí) from Proto-Hellenic *pʰā́mā from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂; whence via Proto-Italic *fāōr, *fāmā compare fārī, fābula, fāma, hence English fable, fame.

Pronunciation

Noun

apophasis f (genitive apophasis); third declension

  1. denial, negation, repudiation
  2. (Late Latin, logic, rhetoric) apophasis; ironically alluding to a subject matter by denying that the subject will be mentioned, embedded within a statement or rhetorical question whereby one, as it were, answers himself
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin, Christianity, philosophy, theology) apprehending knowledge of what is true about an unknowable, such as the essence of a divine being like God, by a negative process of denying propositions that are knowably untrue
    Synonyms: abnuentia, negatio, (New Latin) via negativa
    Antonyms: affirmatio, aientia, cataphasis, (New Latin) via affirmativa

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative apophasis apophasēs
Genitive apophasis apophasium
Dative apophasī apophasibus
Accusative apophasem apophasēs
apophasīs
Ablative apophase apophasibus
Vocative apophasis apophasēs

Descendants

Noun

apophasīs f

  1. accusative plural of apophasis

References

  • apophasis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • apophasis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • apophasis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 142.
  • apophasis in Georges, Karl Ernst, Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918) Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th edition, volume 1, Hahnsche Buchhandlung, column 499